A Twist Of Fate
by Afterdark11
Summary: A prophecy is a fickle thing, parts of any prophecy can be interpreted in many different ways. Voldemort marks Neville as his equal that fateful night. But what happens to Harriet and what will she become as the world around her changes. Harriet walks the fine line between succumbing to the hate and violence or being strong and good for the world around her. Fem!Harry
1. Chapter 1

**Disclaimer: I own nothing you recognise here  
**

**Summery: A prophecy is a fickle thing, many parts of any prophecy can be interpreted in many different ways. History forever changes at a slight misunderstanding.**

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Within the bounds of the West Country of southern England lies a small village nestled between the rolling chalk hills. A quaint village called Godric's Hollow which is populated by small number of people who the outside observer would declare them to be a 'bit odd' and 'eccentric' which when you're outnumbered vastly by sheep and cows is saying something.

This small collection of Tudor looking cottages and shops with small narrow streets is normally quite peaceful, apart from Sundays in summer when bikers enjoying a ride out in the pleasant weather descend upon Godric's Hollow single pub en masse before continuing on to small tight winding country roads that lead off from the village to the coastal regions.

Unlike over small villages these ones doesn't really complain about the noise from the summer visitors and the occasional brave winter ones, which is slightly strange as they don't need the tourism money like over small remote places which sell fudge and assorted rubbish in the local post office.

The reason being that when you can cast a silencing charm, not much can bother your if you want to lie in on a Sunday morning, only problem is that you got to remember the cast the spell the night before. The country life can be quite pleasant when you have magic to get around the normal inconveniences of remote living.

The population of Godric's Hollow is one of the few places in mainland England which is inhabited entirely magic users and doesn't use Muggle replant charms en-mass, quite forward thinking really but considering this is the birthplace of Godric Gryffindor not surprising.

Today on 31 October, 1981 was an auspicious day, almost everyone in the village was gathered in the single local pub to celebrate and also to mourn as this was 'M' day.

For this was the day that Lord Voldemort attacked the Longbottom's, not much was known but some details was clear, the Dark Lord was dead and so were the Longbottom's but not the infant son.

James Potter, father, husband and a proud member of the Order Of The Phoenix stood next to his wife in a large room with the rest of the village.

"Everyone" he announced holding a drink high in the air "Please raise your glasses for the Longbottom's" he scanned the room, seeing faces of varying expressions, from depressed to cheerful, most of the village knew the Longbottom's, often did the Potters often to take care of the infant Neville as Frank and Alice Longbottom did for their own child, it wasn't a strange site to see Lily and James Potter with two prams taking the toddlers out for walk on the weekends.

"They were good honorable people who I am proud to fought alongside with, as close as family as anyone can be" James held the right hand of his wife tighter looking into eyes for strength.

"They are now gone, but so has the Dark Lord, their sacrifice will be remembered forever. We are now facing a new era of peace and prosperity due to what happened this day. Please raise your glasses"

James Potter looked upwards and muttered "The Longbottoms"

Everyone in the pub replicated his actions with down cast expressions.

Later on James and Lily Potter in a booth in the far corner of the pub still sombre as everyone else started to get more and more cheerful and the drinks continued to flow.

"Knighton's kid is with Harriet, most of the little ones are asleep at this point and the young Miss Knighton is looking a bit worn" Lily said with a small smile.

"Well that might put her off having kids of her own then, Merlin only knows why she is obsessed with having one at her age already, her father, old Henry will be happy with that" James retorted with a smile while looking at the door to the small parlour were his own child will be hopefully be sleeping at this point.

Lily looked at this with a smirk "Well tonight will be normal as ever but without the standard worry of attack" she grimaced "it's going to be odd thinking about the future now, we been dealing with those fanatical monsters for so long now…"

James looked up with a contemplative eye " We still got to deal with his followers, a task that Dumbledore will be more than up to" James looked smug at the thought "After that floo from Minerva I am feeling optimistic, the Order will assemble most likely for the last time and Dumbledore will decide on the next steps but with You-Know-Who gone the Death Eaters will be disarray and the Ministry can easily deal with those dregs"

Lily still looked worried "But what about poor Neville, you know what people are saying about him, he is just a baby and already everyone's talking about him like he is the future head of the Auror's before he has even been to school…." She looked pensive "well Frank and Alice would be proud if he follows in their footsteps".

"Well" said James "We should get back home, we got a lot to talk about tomorrow with Dumbledore and we got to deal with the battle axe Augusta as well, she will need our support but I feel that dear old Augusta will take Neville and shut out the world entirely" James stood up holding out a hand to help Lily from her seat "We will offer to take care of Neville for a few days until everything has settled down and play host to Augusta as well, I feel she appreciate the peace that our wards offer when the Daily Prophet comes hunting" Lilly said "Also Harriet will like a more permanent playmate"

James smiled slightly froze "We just got ours to her first birthday, I had a full night's sleep two nights ago in as long as i can remember… Do we really want to double our problems"

Lilly bumped into him with her hips with a smirk on her lips "Well they could be tripled soon"

James potter looking a bit startled "We talk about it later" A smile grew on his face "I wouldn't mind, its just that the first one was a surprise.." he walked towards the door at the back "I will get Harriet, you tell Sharp at the bar we see him tomorrow to settle up the tab and if he want to come with us to the Order meeting"

James and Lily with Harriet in a small baby carrier walked home lost in the thoughts of the young Neville and what the future will hold for him and also Harriet.

As James walked in and headed for the stairs Lily stood at the entrance and looked around at their humble semi-detached cottage, a small smile was on her lips as she looked down at the small baby carrier. Harriet soundly asleep with her little hands curled up around her head, small strands of red hair poked through a little woolen hat. Lily was proud of what she and James accomplished in such a short time. After both graduating Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry with very good grades they both got a good jobs, got married and purchased a nice little home where they can raise a family.

She picked up the baby carrier and with practised absent-minded skill with spell work, cast the locking charms on the doors and windows, feed power to the external wards and reapplied the silence charm the walls and windows of the house, it's a Sunday tomorrow and with everything that going to happen Lily really wanted a nice lie-in.

She walked up stairs to put Harriet in her crib and get herself to bed, happy that the world, after all the sacrifices everyone has made will become better.

As the rest of the Wizarding world celebrated to the early hours, four of the dredges of society namely Death Eaters Bellatrix, Rodolphus and Rabastan Lestrange, and Bartemius Crouch Jr.

Bellatrix with a mad gleam in her eye and thirst for blood she sneered and the cosy little cottage, her fingers grasping around the long Walnut, dragon heartstring wand pitched white with the strength of her anger. With the Blasting Curse ready in her mind she used her over hand to mention to her two companions.

They moved towards the darkened house.


	2. Chapter 2

**Disclaimer: I own nothing you recognise here**

 **This chapter just sets up the horrible world that Harriet has had to experience. The next chapter will be**

 **the introduction to the magical world. Some say that people are the product of their environment, not their fault, like a dog that is was treated badly and ends up biting someone but some, who overcome all obstacles thrown in their path and become a truly a good person, are rare. Harriet will walk the fine line between falling off and succumbing to the hate and violence that perpetuates world or will she be strong and help to make the world a better place.**

 **Harriet is not going to be super powered and as she wasn't marked as the Dark Lord's equal that night, she is not in the direct firing line, for now. She will inadvertently change the world around her, but for better or worse depends on those around her in helping her forge a new life, which will start in chapter three.**

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See lay in her small single bed letting the new day sun wash across her face. She hated waking up naturally, preferring to wake before sunrise with her alarm and get into her morning routine before anyone else got up. But that gets harder to do as we get closer to summer..

Harriet looked at the ceiling expressionless, with the bed sheet pulled up to her neck she did not want to get out of bed today for this was the halfway point of the summer holidays after her final year in primary school and in a few months she will be starting high school, an unappealing prospect.

The later years of school… well everything seemed, well normal. All the strange stuff that happened around her has died down but every now and again...

She been lucky to spend the last few years at the same school. Moving from Care Home to various foster families because of strange things but no matter what, she always had school as a focus, as a rock in her turbulent life.

But now she faced a different problem.

"After what happened…" She said almost silently to herself "After everyone saw what I did last week, Stonewall High will not be as a welcoming place"

See spent the first few hours of her 11th birthday sitting in an overly colourful interview room in the city centre police station, flanked by a caseworker from the counsel to her left and a staff member from her care home on the right and facing across her over the table with the tape deck which was recording this pitiful situation was newly minted Constable and a man on the wrong side of middle age with graying hair. He was in normal everyday but smart and expensive looking clothes.

Every single one was looking at her with varying looks of anger and the general body language of room said 'I rather be anywhere but here' apart from the plain clothes gray haired man.

He was looking directly into her eyes and unlike the rest he had this look of resigned disappointment and that look hurt more than any words or looks anyone else can give, she really likes the Sergeant

"Here we are again Harriet" we said leaning back in his chair "You have been trouble a few amount of times this last year, been seeing so much this year I am considering inviting you to our christmas do" He said with a small smile, the constable next to him looked like he didn't appreciate the joke as he turned his frown from her to him.

A pained look appeared on his face as he leant forward poking at a folder that was on the table in front of him

"I was happy that you stopped running jobs for that gang of teenagers, people your age should enjoy playing the park and such like, not stealing alcohol to order, I was very happy to see you at my community out reach programme. You made so much progress, new friends"

Harriet looked at her knees, she wouldn't cry, she never cries in front of anyone but this is hard.

"I am afraid you gone to far this time and a apology letter will not cut it any more, you gone too far this time and a few people are wounding what you become in the following years" said the Sergeant, his voice hard and firm he continued "let's start from the beginning, tell us what happened at one o'clock today?"

Harriet Potter swung her legs off the side of bed not wanting to repeatedly recall that night a few days ago she forced herself to get up, she looked at the fresh bruises on her legs, they were looking better now.

Harriet sighed as she pulled down her night dress. It was a relatively silent at the care home in the last few weeks, a lot of the over children managed to happily be placed within foster families apart from one small boy who was given a room next to hers.

She did not bother to learn his name as he was just a another irritating bother, Harriet really liked her sleep and the snotty nosed brat just kept her awake all night with his crying. New arrivals aways are. He needs to learn to smile even when unhappy, just smile all the time no matter what, the only way you get out of this place to a loving home at any age past toddler is vanishingly small, as each year goes by, no matter how pleasant you are, everyone just wants babies or small children, not soon to be high schoolers.

She got to the bathroom and showered rather quickly, changing into her shirt with a tank top over it and a nice pair of preworn jeans which were donated to a clothing bank which being old have become quite fastabley vintage as of late, seeing teenagers ripped and stonewashed jeans she trought was funny as hers were genuine.

She slipped down into the lobby. Happy at the lack of any adults she went out the main entrance and onto the street.

Row after row of terraced housing covered the gently sloping hills of this suburbia nightmare, old remnants of this towns industrial heritage, each one the same as the last with the front doors directly facing onto the street. The odd house had the glistening shine of glass on the roof, an attic conversion in an attempt to squeeze more room out the tiny house on its roof but apart from that, the entire area from Harriet's position on the tallest hill looked like a bland gray and black cloak covering the entire landscape. She shifted on the loose pile of bricks she was using for a seat, parts of the old factory which employed most of this place at one time, it now lay in ruins.

Harriet liked the factory as it was quiet and discreet type of place no one really came up here, it was stripped of any valuable metals from old equipment years ago now it's just a semi dangerous ruin.

It is a nice retreat for her, a place where she can come and look upon the town and just generally get away from everything and everyone. At least it was.

"Well well well" leered a voice from behind her

Shit this is what I get for day dreaming Harriet thought. She stood up and turned around to face the voice.

As she turned around she saw five older teenagers in a semi circle standing just a few feet from her. They must of come around the corner from the south gate and came in behind her from inside the factory, she knew she was in trouble, they only way out was down a very steep embankment to a stream which used to carry waste away from the factory and from the looks of it, it never recovered. The over option and, not a pleasent one is thought the five young men which now fully surrounded her.

"People been looking for you Potter" said the teenager in the centre "Certain people are really pissed about what you did to Pokey" He stepped forward with the overs following instep "Little psycho bitch aren't ya potter, stabbed him in the leg with a sodding pencil, all he wanted was a chat"

She frowned at him "That's not how I remember it, also Pokey? Lovey nickname you given him there Frankie"

Frankie smiled "Quite funny really, didn't think you can stab someone with a pencil like you can with a knife, he will be walking funny till he has finished his exams, bit close to his cock that was Potter, bit of target fixation was it?" he placed his hands on his knees and leaned closer "How did it go with the police? Heard a little psycho like you got put before youth court, got a referral order and a curfew"

He leaned back and stood up straight "In fact you shouldn't be outside, typical of you lot really, disposable little shits, all you have to do is cry 'boo hoo, no parents' and the government gives you everything on a fucking silver plate, free school gear, free help, you know how hard we work on weekends just to get into a fucking film?"

She wearily stood up and looked him the eye "Well I assume you threaten the guy who works on the door at school or do you just do a few extra hours at the gents toilets in the park"

Frankie with his teeth barred lashed out and grabbed Harriet around the throat "Cheeky little shit aren't ya potter, well Pokey is a bit of a dick but he is one of mine, you hurt one of us, we all come knocking"

He lifted her of the floor surprising Harriet with his strength and more surprising cutting off her air supply. She tried to breathe but all that happened was a gagging reflex and sparks of light appearing in her vision, attempting anything she lashed out with her legs while clawing at the hand around the throat.

Frankie slammed Harriet to the ground and before she could even recover two of his friends grabbed her arms, her vision returned around the edges and looked up. Frankie grabbed her by the hair and pulled violently, being lifted back up by him and the over two grunts she looked directly into his eyes trying to look hard but inside she knew this was it, all the times she out ran, out climbed and out thinking the bullies all while talking back, this time there was no escape.

"I think it's time we all get more acquainted Potter"

They pulled her roughly through the old loading bay and into the factory proper. Stripped of almost everything it is now one vast empty space covered with litter and illegible graffiti, brick dust hung heavily in the air as they pulled Harriet along the side of the main wall, after attempting to struggle for most of the journey she gave up after Frankie pulled so tightly she was sure she lost a few strands of hair. They stopped at the rear corner of the main hall, she been in before, ether trying to escape from the child home or from Frankie and his goons but she never stayed long.

You have to be stupid to stay at any length here, the floorboards on the upper floors were so rotten and with half of the dividing walls crumbling down makes this place death wish. One day, after the compulsory purchase goes through the courts this place will make some very nice flats for some very wealthy people where they can look down on the poor people in the terraced housing estates while being conveniently located near Smeltings Academy.

They approached a set of stairs located along the wall going down to what is presumably a basement.

"Down ya go ya wee shit" said one of the goons with a sneer, the over two on her arms let go but Frankie continued to hold tight "Nothing funny or snap you neck".

She carefully went down the stairs, at the bottom was a door already open leading to a dark void, the one with a forced sounding scottish accent pushed passed with a camping lantern, lighting it with a zippo he adjusted the little valve above the blue gas canister and light spread out from the glass prism above it.

Behind the door is a small room, a ceiling so low the Teenagers had to slightly bend over to avoid the metal beams. Along the far wall are a vast number of valves and pipes looking like it was copied from U-Boat, it looked like it was once was a control room of some kind.

The goon with the lantern hanged it up on one the metal beams and sat down on an upturned milk crate while the overs into the room.

"Get the ropes Doily and help me" said Frankie mentioning with his free hand to the one on the milk crate. Doily took off his backpack and pulled out some ropes, as he was fussing with the rope she noticed that the backpack was extremely larger than the ones everyone used for school, she quickly realized after seeing some of the contents that it was one of those giant ones for camping.

"Do anything I don't say you can and you end up leaving here with less fingers than you arrived with ok?" Frankie sneered close to her ear, a siver ran up her spine as she realized she should of fought, useless or not outside, there might of been a chance….

They pulled her arms forward then zip tie went around her wrists and Doily pulled so tight the plastic pinched her skin then the two goons who were pinning her arms lifted her up and hooked the cable tie around her wrist to a similar hook that the lantern was on but against the back wall.

"You sit tight now psycho, we don't want to deal with you yet"

The goons all sat in a circle under the lantern while Doily pulled more items from his pack. Harriet couldn't see much from her position, at the back in the corner was a bit dark. She should just reach the floor, extremely uncomfortable but more worrying due to her height she couldn't unhook herself.

"Ah this is where you come to drink you cheap cider eh?" she said with a smirk

"Shush now or I will tape your mouth" Frankie said not even looking at her

The afternoon went on seeming endless, the goons just drank and smoked while listening to a portable tape deck. The occasional glances at her direction but no words was said the entire evening, she was getting dizzy from the still air full of smoke and inadvertently feel asleep.

Harriet jerk awake, her entire body in pain, a bright light shining in her face making her unable make out any feature of the room for a moment until her eyes adjusted.

Her head throbbing with pain and with her wrists absolutely screaming in pain, she must of passed out from the smoke which wasn't obviously normal cigarettes, the lack of food and drink all day didn't help her condition.

"Wakey wakey Potter" it was Frankie holding the lantern directly face, he was all alone and the over teenagers were gone

He was sitting on one of the upturned crate. She wondered how he has been staring at her, she attempted to shift her position slightly but it provided little comfort. Before she was able to see sunlight slightly through the boards that made up the ceiling but now the only source of light was from the lantern he is holding.

"I am going to teach you a lesson, think of it of an early lesson before you start school, an introduction to real life. The lads just thought I just wanted to hold you till night time, let you back at sunset for a clip around the ear, but i got a better idea"

Harriets body went rigid with realization "You fuck!" she snarled

Frankie looked calm as he said "Yeah you're going to break your curfew order badly, so what happens now? I know at least it's one of those sad little Secure Children's Homes in your future, locks on all the metal doors, ran like a mini prison aren't they" he looked quite still with a strange happy smile "Do they still do Borstal for kids like you? Well no matter, I will find out later. Its well past your bedtime now, that hovel you call a home should of called the police ages ago"

He came right up to her face "Boom!" he spat in her face "There goes your last chance"

She dropped her head, glaring at her shoes. Anger coursing through her veins, she wouldn't let him know he get to her. Her fists were balled up in as tight as she could, the feeling of blood running down her arms as the cable ties dug sharply into her wrists. Her body slightly shook uncontrollably as the vision around her eyes blurred.

"Hahaha awww you upset Potter? Worried about being locked up?" He placed the lantern on the floor and plunged his hands into his pockets while leaning towards her, he tilted his face till she could feel the heat from his breath on her ear. The vision in her eyes was almost black around the edges, the pain in her arms was now across her whole body.

"Your worthless, a drain on our town, running around hitting and now stabbing people? Yeah, no one will cares about you" he sharply stepped back and pulled his right hand from his pocket holding a little black object, with a practised flick a short blade appeared.

A high pitched whine drowned out all over sounds in her ears. Harriet screwed her eyes shut, trying to focus but the pain and anger overwhelmed all over feelings

"Well you might be can be of some use, let's see if you can learn" he moved closer placing his left hand on her stomach while resting his right on her shoulder letting the point of the knife rest on her neck.

Harriet wanted to scream, not from fear but in pure unbridled anger. The unquenchable wild anger called for blood.

Frankie was oblivious to everything around him, he moved his hand from her stomach and started to move it under her shirt, The look of hunger in his eyes as he leered at what he was doing. He looked up and felt true fear for the first time.

He looked into the abyss of her eyes, dark red with small black pupils almost as if they weren't even there.

Then Harriet screamed and the anger within came out. Magic in its rare uncontrolable raw form exploded outward.

It sought to destroy, and it did.

The world collapsed around Harriet as the physical explosion tore at the building.

Then all she knew was black.


End file.
